JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Their love inspired us all during the pandemic.
Mary Daniel shared that her husband, Steve, passed away peacefully on Wednesday at Community Hospice. Their story touched the First Coast after she took a job as a dishwasher during the pandemic to be with her husband who had Alzheimer's.
Daniel posted on her Facebook that she was "heartbroken" but she knows she fulfilled her promise to him to "hold his hand every step of the way".
"Caring for him has been the greatest honor of my life and our children, grandchildren and I will move forward together with absolutely no regrets," Daniel wrote.
The Daniel's story inspired Gov. Ron DeSantis to find a solution for long-term care visitation in Florida during the height of COVID.
Steve was in a memory care unit of a nursing home when no visitors were allowed.
"We tried a window visit. He just cried. You can't explain it to him," Daniels told First Coast News in July of 2020.
The corporate office of the nursing facility called her once they heard her story, offering a job as a dishwasher.
Finally, after 114 days apart, she got to see her husband.
"He was teary-eyed," she says. "He touched my face, even with my mask on."
She that after so much time apart, Steve might not know her - But that didn't turn out to be a concern.
"He knew me. He called me, Mary."
Daniel said a service for Steve will be held next Wednesday on December 28th, with more details to follow.
